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PCT NEWSLETTER

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February 2018 | No. 02/2018

40 Years of the PCT

The date of 24 January 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of Chapter I of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)1. The entry into force of this new Treaty in 1978 was a significant achievement for the relatively newly‑formed World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which had been created, upon the entry into force of the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, by the member states of its predecessor organization, BIRPI2, on 26 April 19703. The PCT has steadily grown to become the largest of WIPO’s international IP filing systems.

The PCT initially entered into force in respect of 13 States, and by the time the PCT commenced operations (that is, when PCT receiving Offices began to receive and process PCT applications) on 1 June 1978, the PCT had entered into force also in respect of five more States. Today, there are 152 PCT Contracting States.